We are going to drink some Turkish tea now
Let's taste what it is like
Let's wait with it, it's a bit hot
I would like to ask you a few questions, the first question is: How many languages can you speak and which one do you speak the best.
Obviously, my best language is French because I live in Brussels.
Other than French, the languages that I often use, like Spanish for example. Actually I hardly speak Mandarin here.
But Chaozhou dialect you...
I speak Chaozhou dialect with my family, I also listen to Cantonese sometimes because my family watch Cantonese television.
So you speak French, Dutch (we just spoke Dutch all the time), Chaozhou dialect, Mandarin, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, a little Japanese, Arabic, Turkish...
Too many languages...
Do you have opportunities to practice all these languages every day?
When I meet Thai people I practice with them, it also depends on the language.
I always practice my Arabic with Moroccans, for Turkish I can come here to practice.
What do you study?
I study interpreting
I study translation from Arabic to French and English.
We use earphones to listen to Arabic and tranlate it to French.
How much time do you spend on learning languages every day?
It depends, if I just start learning a language, for example Thai, I would study for half an hour per day. That should be enough.
Because if you study too much, you will give up. If you study too less, you won't learn it fast enough.
Half an hour a day should be enough more or less.
What about you, how long to you study every day?
At the moment I study both Cantonese and Japanese, so I would spend 1 or 2 hours studying per day
So I am quite busy recently
How do you make time for that?
I have my own business so I can plan my own work
Then in the evening, I haven't got anything, no friends.. This way I can spend a lot of time on studying languages.
So you often go to travel abroad?
Yes, I often go.
Tomorrow he has to wake up very early because he goes to.. where?
Oh, I don't know the name of that country (Montenegro) in Mandarin.
What makes me excited, is that I can see from your videos on YouTube is that when you start learning a language, that you immediately start speaking it with the people.
For example, we were just in the Turkish restaurant
You asked me, what language are the people behind you speaking?
I listened if it was Thai. You immediately went to practice your Thai with them.
It depends on the people, with Northern European people it's a bit more difficult.
With Thai, Chinese, Arabic or Spanish people it's easy to start a conversation with and talk with them.
My Thai is very bad, but I just speak it.
You just started learning Thai but I noticed you don't care.
I just speak it, however I make many mistakes.
But that is ok
Often I don't know the right words in the language, but I just try.
It it true that you can improve very fast this way?
Yes, because if you use the language you get used using it.
Sometimes there are words that you only use when speaking the language, not when you write it, so you have to practice with the people.
So which languages are you studying now? You said Thai right?
I am interested in Thai now. I study Thai and at the same time I perfect my Arabic and Turkish.
How many languages will you speak 10 years from now?
Do you think about it this way sometimes?
No I don't, it all depends on who I meet. If I meet Thai people I will learn Thai
I never had the plan to learn Thai, it just happened.
So you do not really choose a language?
I don't choose languages, they choose me.
That how I do it, it's very natural.
What about you, how do you choose your languages?
I do it the same way as you do.
If I meet nice people or make new friends during my travels, I am automatically interested in their languages as well.
So you pick languages the same way, do you want to learn Chinese dialects?
Yes, Cantonese. You can also teach me some Chaozhou dialect if you want.
There are actually many Chaozhou dialect speakers in Paris.
How do you say 'have you eaten already' in Chaozhou dialect, if forgot it.
Jie ben dwuai (Chaozhou dialect for 'have you eaten already')
I think it sounds a bit like Vietnamese
Do you want to know more?
It's ok, let's drink some tea together
'Drinking tea' in Chaozhou dialect is: zje te
Ok, I guess that's it
If you come to Holland next time, we will welcome you.
I will come to Holland to have some fun, bye!